Word Templates .dot

Hello. I create multiuse .dot documents for my users. They know how to copy the template locally so it will open with their file/new option as a New Document. Is it possible to open a .dot file, from Word, from a network path as a New Document rather than the .dot? Currently if they open the file from the network and do a save as, it only allows a save in .dot format and they want to save in .doc.